


The Lovebug Crisis

by quirkily



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Idiots in Love, Lovebug AU, M/M, keith is bitten by a lovebug, keith is hugging him, klance, klance lovebug au, lance has a crisis, my angst isnt that bad tho i like my ships to be happy okay, my first ever klance fic wooo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 06:40:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12699453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quirkily/pseuds/quirkily
Summary: That wasn’t a word Lance had ever thought he would use to describe Keith. Their relationship had always been hard, violent, full of shouting and fights. Never this, never soft, even after they’d stopped being rivals. Even after Lance realised he didn’t hate Keith, that he never had.The sharp pain went through his chest again, and this time Lance recognised it.Longing.He still wasn’t quite sure what his crisis was, but he knew it wasn’t personal space or a lack of arguing. With a deep sigh, Lance closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him.





	The Lovebug Crisis

**Author's Note:**

> my first ever voltron fic! woooo  
> this is based off [this amazing artwork](http://eyugho.tumblr.com/post/164178271830/love-bug-au-where-they-visit-a-planet-and-keith) by [eyugho](http://eyugho.tumblr.com/)  
> hope you enjoy!  
> 

Lance was having a crisis. He just wasn't quite sure what his crisis was exactly. But he was certain that everyone else was acting far too calm for the severity of the situation. 

“How are you all so calm!?” Lance screeched in the middle of the control room. 

He was standing there, with Keith hugging him from behind and clinging on as tightly as possible. Keith!! And no one was doing anything! They were all just standing around staring at a bug in a glass jar. 

That stupid bug was responsible for everything. 

“Well!?” Lance continued to panic, “What's going on?” 

The last thing Lance remembered was running through an Alien Jungle, and being dive-bombed by the bright pink beetle in front of him. 

Pidge hummed thoughtfully, and they leaned forward to inspect the bug closer, “It appears to be a Love Bug.”

“Heh.” Lance chuckled, “Guess we caught the Lovebug. Wouldn’t be the first time, lots of people caught the lovebug in my presence back home.”

The others just rolled their eyes at him, and Lance waited for Keith’s snarky remark. It took a few seconds to realise he wasn’t getting one, as Keith just snuggled further into Lance’s back. He tried his best to push down the panic that had been bubbling inside him since he’d woken up in the Control room. 

“Oh, I remember these! They were always flying around Altea on our annual Lovebug Day!” Allura chimed in. 

Lance was sure he could make a flirty joke from that, but his mind had gone blank.

Pidge looked curious, “So these bugs are from Altea?” 

“No,” Allura looked thoughtful, “I don’t think so. They are native to a lot of different planets, such as the planet we just visited, and they were introduced to Altea as a gift. There a probably records in our system.”

“Okay, let’s go check then!” Pidge was already darting to check the ship’s data records. 

It would take awhile to find the records, so Allura went to assist Pidge and everyone else gradually left the room, until it was just Lance. And Keith. Who had just started to nuzzle the back of Lance’s neck.

There was that panic again.

“Finally given into my irresistible charm, eh Keith?” Lance chuckled nervously. 

Instead of answering, Keith finally lets go and moves away.

Lance sighed in relief and ignored the sharp pain of something else in his chest. That must have been his crisis, Lance decided. Keith was just hugging him far too tight, and Lance needed his personal space.

Suddenly Keith was in front of Lance, and he was wrapping Lance’s arms around his torso so now Lance was hugging Keith from behind. Lance felt his face flush and he was suddenly grateful that everyone else had left the room. It wasn’t a personal space crisis then. 

Keith moved Lance’s hands down to his hips and gave Lance the softest smile he had ever seen. Lance’s face burned hotter, and he didn’t know what to say. Lance always had something to say, even it was usually stupid and Keith usually argued with him about it. Maybe that was his crisis then, Lance didn’t know what to do without Keith to argue with. 

Keith started walking out of the room, Lance following behind still hugging Keith. They traipsed through the ship’s corridors before arriving at Keith’s bedroom. Lance was sure his face couldn’t get any redder, but he felt his blush creeping down his neck. 

Lance nervously chuckled, “It’s usually me trying to woo people into my bedroom.”

Keith just opened the door and led him to the bed. All Keith had done so far was hug him, surely he wasn’t trying to go further? No, Keith was just pulling them both under the covers and wrapping Lance in a big bear hug. Lance wasn’t sure if that left him relieved or disappointed. 

He looked down at Keith laying on his chest, and his heart stuttered. Keith’s breathing evened out and Lance figured he must be upset. He relaxed more than he had all day. Resting further on the pillows, Lance started running his fingers through Keith’s hair. 

Soft, he thought. Not just his hair, everything about this was peaceful and content, and soft. 

That wasn’t a word Lance had ever thought he would use to describe Keith. Their relationship had always been hard, violent, full of shouting and fights. Never this, never soft, even after they’d stopped being rivals. Even after Lance realised he didn’t hate Keith, that he never had. 

The sharp pain went through his chest again, and this time Lance recognised it. 

Longing. 

He still wasn’t quite sure what his crisis was, but he knew it wasn’t personal space or a lack of arguing. With a deep sigh, Lance closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him. 

~~~

When Lance woke up from the best sleep he’d had in a long time, he moved his arm to rub his eyes and found that he couldn’t. Keith had wrapped himself even tighter around Lance during the night, and Lance’s poor arm was currently trapped underneath Keith’s torso. 

Lance groaned and tried to move his arm without disturbing Keith. Keith whined in his sleep but didn’t wake up, and Lance managed to get his arm free. 

Letting out a deep sigh, Lance made his way to Keith’s bathroom. He stared at his reflection and quickly decided that he definitely needed his hair and skin products. 

Lance’s crept quietly to the door, unsure of why he was so anxious about waking Keith. He glanced over to make sure that Keith was still sleeping, and his hand faltered on the doorknob. 

Keith’s face was scrunched up in pain and his arms were outstretched on the bed like he was reaching for something. 

For him, Lance realised with a jolt. 

He thought that the weird bug had just made Keith want to hug something, not that it would actually cause him pain to be away from Lance. Now that he thought about it, the two of them hadn’t been separated since Keith had been bitten. 

Lance turned away and ignored the painful guilt in his chest as he left the room.

~~~

“Lance!,” Pidge exclaimed when Lance entered the room, their eyes lit up with the excitement they only got from discovering something.

“What did you find?” Lance asked as he wandered over to where Pidge and Allura were crowded around a screen. 

“Well the Lovebug originates from the planet Amore,” Pidge started.  
“They were gifted to Altea by the Amorens, as a gift of an alliance,” Allura interrupts, “From then on we celebrated that day every year with gifts of love and affection.”

“The Altean celebration of Lovebug Day sounds very similar to our Valentine’s Day on Earth,” Pidge explains.

“Okay.” 

Both Allura and Pidge stared at Lance in shock, possibly wondering why Lance was no longer freaking out or why he hadn’t taken this chance to flirt with Allura. 

The truth was, Lance was still freaking out internally. He was just resigned and still dealing with the guilt from leaving Keith alone.

That didn’t last very long though, as the next thing Lance knew he had a warm body hugging him from behind. 

“Keith!” Lance yelped as he was pulled against Keith’s chest, and Keith started humming into Lance’s neck. 

“Missed you,” Keith mumbled.

“Started talking again, huh?” Lance chuckled nervously. 

The panic was rising faster and stronger than before. He wasn’t prepared for Keith to start talking. That made it worse! Before, Lance knew that it wasn’t really Keith choosing to hug him because he was acting so quiet. But now, it was even harder to equate this soft, gentle Keith with the snarky and defensive boy that he was used to.

Lance knew that had something to do with his crisis, but he wasn’t sure how it fit into his jumble of emotions. 

“...but the main thing is, it’s quite harmless,” Allura finished and Lance realised he had missed the rest of her explanation. 

“The Lovebug bite will wear off in a few days,” Pidge finished.

“What?” Lance shrieked, “You can’t be serious!”

How quickly he had gone from calm and resigned to completely panicking. 

Lance just didn’t know how he was going to deal with Keith’s affection for much longer without going insane! Especially when he still hadn’t figured out how he felt about the whole thing. 

“Lance,” Pidge said suddenly very serious, “I know you guys have your issues, but the only way to get Keith better is to let him hug you. His condition will only get worse if you reject him, okay?”

Lance nodded. He might be conflicted and confused, but he wasn’t an asshole. 

“Then you may go,” Allura gave Lance a soft smile and turned around to continue whatever she had been working on before Lance had entered.

~~~  
Lance had been excused from all his usual chores around the ship, as Coran had understood Keith’s condition and how difficult it might be to clean cryo-pods with someone hugging you. 

Lance would usually be happy about this, but it meant he had no idea what to do. 

He had wandered around the ship for a while, but everyone else was busy and absorbed in whatever they were doing. They all seemed sympathetic to Keith’s condition, but no one really knew what to do about it except wait it out. No one really knew what to do about Lance either. They were all unsure of how he felt and didn’t know how to act about it. Lance wasn’t about to ask them to stop doing their tasks just to pay attention to him either. 

Somehow, even with Keith wrapped around him, Lance felt the most alone he ever had. He felt a sudden sharp pain of homesickness, and not for the first time Lance was left missing his parents and siblings. 

Lance was tempted to just crawl back into bed, but he was completely awake and didn’t feel like laying awake and staring at the ceiling. 

Without a better idea, Lance went to the kitchen and made up two plates of goop before making his way to his room, Keith attached to his back the entire way. 

Once inside the room, he placed their plates on the end of his bed. He felt suddenly very awkward, standing in the middle of his room with Keith snuggling into the back of his neck. It had been different when they were in Keith’s room. Lance wasn’t sure why, but being in his own room made all of this feel more intimate. 

Lance awkwardly pushed Keith off him so he could sit down on the bed, and before Keith got that pained expression on his face again Lance pulled him onto his lap. 

That was a mistake. Now Keith was curling up against his chest and murmuring something about Lance being pretty. 

“Th-thanks.” Lance wasn’t sure when his voice had gotten so shaky.

Lance picked up one of the plates from beside him, “Are you hungry?”

Keith looked up at him and his eyes seemed to clear slightly as if coming out of a mist. Lance held his breath, anticipating the moment where Keith came out of his trance and started asking questions about why they were hugging. The moment where Keith rejected Lance.

It didn’t happen. Keith just nodded slowly and grabbed the plate before turning around to eat leaning against Lance’s chest. Lance was left to eat his own goop and try to figure out why he had been so afraid of rejection. 

~~~  
It wasn’t a sexuality crisis, Lance mused. He’d figured out his bisexuality a long while ago.

It wasn’t a crisis about having a crush on Keith either. He’d also figured that out awhile ago. 

He had thought that was the most likely explanation and had considered the mystery of his internal crisis solved for quite a few hours while he watched a movie curled up with Keith. Being hugged and shown so much affection from your crush, especially so suddenly and unexpectedly, was likely to give anyone a crisis. 

But while it explained the blushing and stuttering, it didn’t make the panic or anxiety make any more sense. Lance wasn’t an overly anxious person when it came to romance though, and he didn’t have much to worry about with this situation. 

Sure, everyone could find out about his crush on Keith, but certain looks Pidge had been giving him lately gave Lance the impression that they already knew. Lance couldn’t imagine that anyone else would mind that much either. 

And yeah, Keith could find out about Lance’s crush on him but Lance figured that things were going to be tense between them when this was all over anyway. 

Besides, if someone did have a bad reaction to his crush Lance was confident in his ability to play it off as a joke or confusion after being shown so much affection. 

That thought sent a deep wave of resigned sadness through him, but he still wasn’t any closer to figuring out why. 

~~~

“So how are you two going?” Allura directed her question mainly at Lance.

“Pretty good,” Lance grinned while shaking what he hoped was salt on his goopy space breakfast, “Keith is talking more today, so I’m assuming that’s a good sign of his recovery.”

It was true. Since the first day where Keith had said nothing at all, he was slowly talking more each day and now he was saying the occasional short sentence. This morning he had told Lance that ‘he was the most gorgeous person he had ever met’. Lance wasn’t sure how his heart would survive the time until Keith was cured. 

Keith was currently sitting sideways on a chair next to Lance with his legs thrown over Lance’s lap. The more Keith was talking, the less he seemed to be attached to Lance. Things were obviously going back to normal. He was no longer hugging Lance every second, and this time Lance understood the emotion in his chest quite clearly. It was disappointment. 

Shiro was studying him thoughtfully, and Lance hoped the disappointment wasn’t as clear on his face as what it felt. 

“Your hair looks nice today.” Keith was staring at him dreamily. 

“Thanks, dude.” Lance grinned, grateful that he was no longer blushing or stuttering at Keith’s compliments, as he was so used to them.

Lance turned back to the rest of the table, “So what’s everyone doing today?”

Pidge had some invention to work on, and Allura and Coran were going to look for places to travel after Keith recovered. Hunk and Shiro didn’t have any plans, although Hunk said he had a new recipe he wanted to try. 

Shiro was still staring at Lance intently like he was trying to figure something out, so after breakfast, Lance opted to help Hunk in the kitchen. 

~~~

“I don’t know how you can still make food taste so good with all these weird ingredients, dude,” Lance exclaimed as Hunk started on his second batch of space-cookies, “It’s a gift!”

Lance had almost devoured the first batch already, with the help of Keith.

“Yummy.” Keith nodded very seriously. 

Both Lance and Hunk stared at him in shock. It was the first time Keith had said something that wasn’t related to Lance and his irresistible beauty. 

Hunk looked unsure of what to say, but Lance let out a laugh, “Yep. Yummy is the perfect way to describe Hunk’s cooking.”

Hunk chuckled but he still seemed nervous about Lance and Keith’s situation, “Thank you both.”

“No problems, man. Hate to love your food and leave you, but I’m pretty sure Shiro wanted to talk to me about something.” 

Lance didn’t really want to go talk to Shiro, but he knew the longer he ignored Shiro’s intent looks the tenser he would become. Besides, even though things seemed more awkward around everyone at the moment, Hunk seemed the most unsure out of everyone. Lance didn’t want to avoid him, but Hunk’s nervous looks were only adding to his panicky feeling. 

Hunk seemed relieved at Lance’s obvious excuse for departure, and waved them out of the kitchen stating ‘they were distracting him from his cooking anyway’. 

~~~

“Okay, spit it out,” Lance stated far more confidently than he felt.

He was currently leaning against the doorway to the training room obnoxiously, with Keith holding his hand and leaning his head on his shoulder.

Shiro looked up from where he was sparring with the training dummy in the middle of the room, a little surprised at Lance having sought him out. 

“Ah. Hello, Lance. And Keith.” Shiro nodded at them.

Keith didn’t reply, and Lance just sighed, “Come on man, you’ve been giving me weird looks all day. What’s wrong?”

Now it was Shiro’s turn to sigh. He rubbed his face and pushed his fringe out of his face, before turning off the training system and walking over to them. 

“I’m just concerned for the team,” Shiro stated seriously, but he seemed hesitant to elaborate. 

“What? Because of this Lovebug thing Keith’s got going on?”

Shiro’s silence answered Lance’s question.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. We’re good, Keith’s good. He’s getting better every day. We’ll be up and able to form Voltron again in no time.”

Shiro looked a little surprised as if the problem of not being able to form Voltron hadn’t quite occurred to him, “While that is a pressing issue, and I’m very glad Keith is getting better, that wasn’t actually what I was worried about.” 

“You’re really struggling with elaborating today dude.”

Shiro let out another deep sigh, “I just don’t want this situation to separate the team after Keith is recovered.”

“Ohh,” Lance nodded along, “No worries man, I’m sure Keith and I will be back to our normal bickering selves in no time. This won't change anything.” 

The thought left a sour taste in his mouth, and Keith dug his fingers into Lance’s hand unhappily. 

“Well if that’s all, I’ll catch you later Shiro.” 

Lance turned and left quickly, but not before he saw the disappointed look on Shiro’s face as if Lance had completely missed his point. 

~~~

Even though his conversation with Shiro had only managed to make him feel even worse, Lance couldn’t help but continue to think about it over the next couple of days.

Keith had continued to get even better, and now things were almost back to normal. Keith was able to speak complete sentences, though he rarely chose to, and he only needed to touch Lance occasionally throughout the day. This led to sudden hugs from behind or walking into to his room to find Keith snuggled in his bed waiting for Lance. 

Lance wasn’t coping. It wasn’t just the adorable way Keith was acting. It was the hesitant looks Keith had been giving him like he was unsure if Lance would push him away. It was the way Lance wondered with every hug if it would be their last. It was the panicky feeling bubbling in his chest that was becoming harder to ignore every day.

Lance knew the answer to his crisis lay with Shiro. It was why he had been pacing the castle’s halls for the past hour. He knew that whatever Shiro was worried about had something to do with his own crisis. His worries had hit too close to home, and Lance had brushed them off with a lazy smile and a ‘no worries man’. 

Shiro knew things wouldn’t be the same between them when Keith was recovered. Lance knew this too. 

Lance just didn’t know what Shiro thought things would be like between them. 

~~~

“You don’t have to touch me anymore, I mean, like hugging. You don’t have to hug me anymore. I’m better now, recovered. Everythings fine. I’m sorry that I made things weird.” Keith was standing at the door with his face flushed red. He couldn’t meet Lance’s eyes. 

Lance didn’t know what to say. He knew this would happen. He’d been expecting it. But he was so very unprepared.

Without waiting for Lance to reply, Keith muttered a ‘bye’ and slammed the door to Lance’s room closed. 

Lance’s heart shattered. He stumbled over to his bed and sat down. 

Lance let out a watery laugh that sounded more like a sob. Why did he always figure things out when it was too late?

At least, Lance thought miserably, he now knew what his crisis was.

~~~

Lance had had crushes before. Many, many crushes. 

But Lance had never hidden his crushes before. Not even when he was figuring out his sexuality. He’d always been a very open, flirtatious person. Sometimes he didn’t even realise he was flirting, or he flirted because it was fun and not because he was necessarily interested in anything. 

When it came to crushes, Lance had a process. He’d flirt, possibly score a date or two, and end up being inevitably rejected. He was used to it. He’d whine to Hunk for a couple of days, get over them, and move on. Often to a different crush a short while later.

It was different with Keith. They weren’t strangers, and for a while, Lance wasn’t sure if they were even on friendly terms. He couldn’t exactly just start flirting with him, and Lance wasn’t about to ask him on a date. He’d figured that all their arguments counted as the rejection part of his process, and soon he’d get to the moving on part. 

He was wrong. 

Lance’s process had gotten all mixed up. Keith had done the flirting, and only because of an alien virus, Lance might add. They hadn’t gotten a date, which Lance was grateful for only because he knew that would make all of this that much worse. To top it all off, Lance was positive he had never experienced true rejection before. Rejection was not his arguments with Keith, nor was it the sympathetic ‘I don’t think this is working out’ apologies or the angry break up yelling from Lance’s exes.

True rejection, absolute heart-shattering rejection, was Keith standing in Lance’s doorway unable to meet his eyes, saying Lance never ‘had’ to hug him again and apologising for ‘making things weird’. 

As if Lance wasn’t longing to hug him again. 

Lance’s crisis it seemed, was not a personal space or lack of arguing crisis. It was not a sexuality crisis either, and it was not because of receiving attention from a crush. 

Lance had been close when he figured it was similar to Shiro’s concerns.

Lance’s crisis was made from longing, fear and dread. Because even though Lance knew that things would be weird between them when it was all over, even though he knew that it wasn’t really Keith hugging him, it hadn’t felt like it. It had felt like exactly what Lance wanted with Keith, and he knew it wouldn’t last. He was waiting for the rejection.

Lance wasn’t sure how Shiro knew about Lance’s feelings, but Pidge knew, and Lance was aware he wasn’t good at hiding his emotions so he wasn’t surprised. Shiro must have known this would happen and how Lance would react.

He had to move on. They lived on the same castle ship, and they had bigger issues as Voltron than Lance’s feelings about being rejected by his crush. He had to move on and hope that they were still able to form Voltron.

Until his crush had disappeared, Lance would just act as if everything was perfectly fine. 

~~~

Lance was apparently a much worse actor than he thought. 

He’d taken one step into the dining room where everyone else was sitting and eating breakfast, seen how miserable Keith looked, spun on his heel and left. 

Lance had spent the entire morning psyching himself for Keith acting normal and snarky, and Lance having to act normal and obnoxious right back. Lance had not prepared himself for Keith to look as awful as Lance felt. 

Now that his plans of acting normal had flown right out of the castle-ships windows and into the void of space surrounding them, Lance had absolutely no clue what to do.

He spent the day hiding in his room, afraid of running into Keith if he went anywhere else. He tried to distract himself by thinking of his responsibility to the team, but that just made him feel guilty because he knew his emotions would stop them from forming Voltron. Lance kept eyeing off the speakers in dread as if Allura would announce a new mission any moment. 

Lance was still staring at the speakers when there was a knock at his door, and first thought was that it was Allura, coming to collect him for a mission personally. His second thought was that it was Keith. When Lance opened the door to find Shiro, he wasn’t sure whether he was relieved or disappointed. Definitely surprised.

“Oh, um, hi Shiro.” Lance smiled half-heartedly, suddenly feeling even worse. He’d promised Shiro that things wouldn’t be weird when Keith got better, and then he’d gone and made their situation even worse than weird. 

“Lance,” Shiro smiled at him surprisingly kindly, “Can I come in?”

“Oh, oh, yeah, of course.” Lance moved out of the doorway quickly, sitting down on his bed. 

Shiro opted to stand and lean against a wall, “I just wanted to come and check on you, I know things are weird between you and Keith right now-”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, I know I promised you that they wouldn’t be, I genuinely thought things would be fine, how stupid of me right? But you knew things wouldn’t be okay, you saw this coming, I should’ve listened to you, I’m sorry-”

“Lance.” Shiro interrupted Lance’s rambling sternly.

“Sorry.” Lance’s shoulders slumped. 

“It’s okay, Lance. You’re right, I did expect things to be different, but I also don’t think there was any way for them not to be. It’s not your fault.” 

Relief washed over Lance that Shiro wasn’t mad at him, but it didn’t make him feel overly much better. 

“How did you know?” Lance looked up at Shiro, “That things would be different, I mean.”

Shiro smiled sadly at Lance, “You may not mind Keith’s feelings for you Lance, but there was no way Keith would be fine with you knowing. And as wonderful as it is that you accept his feelings, there is always some guilt that comes with unrequited love-”

“Wait, what?”

“Guilt. It’s okay if you don’t understand it, it’s just caused by the feeling of needing to have reciprocated feelings and feeling bad that you don’t, or that they shouldn’t-”

“Unrequited love? Reciprocated feelings? What are you talking about Shiro?”

“Keith, I’m talking about Keith’s feelings for you.” a look of dread came over Shiro’s face, “Wait. You knew about that, right? Allura and Pidge said they’d told you. I can’t have been the one to tell you. Shit.”

At the mention of Pidge and Allura having told him something, a thought started to surface in the back of Lance’s mind and in the next second Lance was out the door and sprinting down the hallway. 

~~~

“Pidge!”

“Why, hello Lance, have you finally decided to leave your room?” Pidge’s snark trailed off as they noticed the expression on Lance’s face, “Lance, what’s wrong?” 

“Pidge. It’s about Keith. Well, it’s about the Lovebug actually, but it still revolves around Keith, so…”

“Lance. What is it?”

“Why me?”

“What?”

“Why did Keith start hugging me out of all of us? I had assumed that it was because we were separated from everyone else, but that’s not it is it?”

A look of cautious understanding crossed over Pidge’s face, “Allura and I did explain this to you before. I’m assuming you must not have heard us. I shouldn’t be surprised, you tune out in a lot of my speeches.”

Lance sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah. Sorry.”

Pidge pushed their glasses up their nose, “It’s okay Lance. Um, well. The Lovebug doesn’t create new feelings and desires, it just amplifies ones that are already existing. If it did create new feelings I cannot imagine it would have been as popular and celebrated in Altea as it was, because that just crosses so many lines of non-consensual attention-”

“Pidge.”

“Right. Sorry. Basically the Lovebug didn’t make Keith do anything he didn’t already want to do, it just made him do what he wanted to but probably wouldn’t have done otherwise.” 

“So you’re saying that Keith wanted to hug me?”

Pidge gave him a small smirk, “I daresay he wants to do more than that.”

“Pidge!”

“I’m saying that everything he said to you while under the Lovebug’s influence was true.”

Thinking back to all of Keith’s compliments, Lance couldn’t help blushing all over again, “Oh.”

“I’m saying that Keith’s in love with you.”

~~~

It seemed clear to Lance now that he hadn’t needed to hide in his room all day because he couldn’t find Keith anywhere. There was no chance he would have accidentally run into him earlier. 

After having sprinted around the castle ship and interrogated everyone about Keith’s whereabouts to no avail, Lance had finally started walking back to his room defeated, and out of breath. 

Keith hadn’t been in his room when Lance had checked earlier, but as he walked past it Lance hesitated. Letting out another deep sigh, Lance walked to the door and knocked. 

He waited for a minute before shaking his head and turning around to head back to his room, only to collide with… Keith?

They just stood there for a few seconds, Lance trapped against the door by Keith’s body, staring at each other. Lance felt his face flush but found comfort in the fact that Keith was blushing too. 

As if coming to his senses, Keith quickly stepped back and muttered a ‘sorry’. From his quick glances at everything but him, Lance could tell that Keith was looking for an escape route. As if realising that he couldn’t sneak past Lance to hide in his room, Keith stepped back as if to run away again. 

“Oh no, you don’t,” Lance muttered, grabbing hold of Keith’s arm. 

Keith finally met Lance’s eyes, and Lance’s heart shattered at the anxiety and stress he saw in them. 

“We are going to have a good chat,” Lance opened the door to Keith’s room, “and talk about this because I’m not going to let communication issues fuck this up for me.” 

Lance sat down on Keith’s bed and let go of Keith’s arm, hoping that he wouldn’t just turn around and sprint out the door.

Keith looked like he would very much like to do just that, but he hesitantly walked over and sat next to Lance. 

Now that they were sitting and ready to talk, Lance’s throat dried up and he realised how weird it felt to be sitting in Keith’s room. The entire room screamed Keith-- the bed a mess, clothes scattered on the floor, knives balanced on top of books on his bedside table. 

The silence stretched on until Keith cleared his throat, “I’m sorry about before. I should have told you I was better without running off. I just… it was hard to face you, after realising that,” Keith shook his head to cut off his own train of thought, “anyway it was stupid because we have to work together for Voltron so it’s not like I can just avoid you.” 

Lance’s heart clenched at the way Keith said: “work together”. 

“I didn’t realise, you know.” 

Keith just looked confused, “Know what?”

Lance suddenly felt awkward but he pushed onwards, “Allura and Pidge told me, but you know me, I tune out when I’m distracted. And uh, you hugging me was distracting, so I uh didn’t hear them. I only realised today when Shiro came to check on me,” Lance suddenly sat up straighter, “not that you should blame Shiro! Not that anyone needs to be blamed for anything, it’s not a bad thing. And technically he didn’t tell me anything, I went and asked Pidge and then I came to find you…”

Lance lost his train of thought at the look of panic on Keith’s face as he started to realise what Lance was talking about. 

“Oh,” Keith started to stand up and inch towards the door, “right.”  
“Wait!,” Lance jumped up and grabbed Keith’s hand, “please.”

Lance blushed as he realised he was holding Keith’s hand, and that he didn’t know what to say. Should he just tell Keith that he loved him? He hadn’t actually said out loud that he knew Keith was in love with him. Maybe Keith wasn’t. Lance was just trusting Pidge’s theory, and they couldn’t be right all the time, could they? Granted, Lance couldn’t think of a time Pidge had been wrong, but it would be just Lance’s luck that this time they were. 

Lance looked up from their joined hands to Keith’s face and saw his own blush mirrored there. 

“Is it true then? Do you love me?” Lance blurted out and realised immediately that it was the wrong thing to say, as Keith’s face closed off and he started to pull away.

“Because! Um,” Lance held tighter to Keith’s hand as he filled with panic, “If you don’t that’s um, fine, sorry I misinterpreted or whatever. But if you do! I um.”

Lance took a deep breath and blurted out, “I want to kiss you!”

Keith looked stunned, and Lance just continued rambling on, “That’s not what I meant! I mean, it’s true, I do want to kiss you. But that’s not what I was going to say! I want more than just kissing,” Lance squeaked as he realised how sexual that sounded, “that’s not what I meant either! Not that I’m against--, a relationship! I meant a relationship, that’s what I was I was talking--”

Lance was cut off as Keith yanked him forward by his shirt, and slammed their lips together. Lance’s brain stuttered out and he forgot what he was saying, too caught up in the rough desperate way Keith was kissing him as if it was the only chance he would get. Lance lost himself in the feeling and passion, kissing Keith back with everything he had. 

When they finally pulled apart, Lance let out a breathless laugh at the stunned expression on Keith’s face. Keith’s eyes flicked back down to Lance’s mouth, and this time Lance leaned in slowly bringing their lips together again. This time the kiss was slower, softer, and Lance couldn’t help but grin into it.

Lance pulled back and rested his head on Keith’s shoulder, still grinning, “What was I saying again?”

Lance could hear the smile in Keith’s voice, “Something about a relationship, I believe.”

Lance lifted his head and looked into Keith’s eyes, his grin changing into a small shy smile, “Be my boyfriend?” 

Keith nodded quickly, pulling Lance into another kiss and murmuring ‘yes’ into Lance’s mouth.  
~~~

Lance and Keith wandered into the dining room, holding hands and unable to stop grinning.  
Allura, Shiro, Coran, and Pidge were already seated at the table. None of them seemed at all surprised.

Shiro looked up from the book he was reading for a second before looking back down with a small smile. 

Allura gave them both a big smile before continuing to nod along to Coran, who was ranting about something and hadn’t even stopped talking when they’d walked in. 

Pidge’s face just lit up like a little kid on Christmas, and they jumped up and stood on their chair, pointing at Keith and Lance yelling, “Took you two long enough!”, before jumping off their chair and running into the kitchen, “Hunk! You owe me $20! I told you they’d get together after all this Lovebug drama!”

Lance laughed, pressing his face into Keith’s shoulder. 

He was just really glad he’d figured out what his crisis was.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! you can find me at:  
> @quirkyreader on tumblr (main blog, mainly fandom reblogging)  
> @quirkilyscribbles on tumblr (my writings)  
> 


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